“Fléchette” is a French word for dart, and flechette shells typically contain thousands of pre-shaped, dart-like objects, referred to as flechettes, that typically are dispensed at high velocities and in large numbers to damage various types of targets. Flechette shells, generally in the form of a bomb, rocket, missile, or other projectile, are designed to dispense and disperse large numbers of flechettes above a target to rain down on a target area. Flechettes typically are not powered and rely on kinetic energy to damage the target.
Flechettes can be dispensed from a projectile in forward, aft, or radially outward directions. Most previous flechette dispensing mechanisms use a combination of large amounts of highly energetic material, typically an explosive material, and/or frangible body structures to maintain flechette energy. For many projectiles, however, frangible structures are not an option due to mechanical load requirements. Launching a flechette shell from a gun, for example, can impose very high structural or mechanical loads on the structure of the shell.